Grassroots student effort key in Springfield GOP win Still flying high, we hear from Aakash Raut, Chairman of the University of Illinois-Springfield College Republicans, about his group's part in local election victories last Tuesday . . . It has been one week since Election Day, when Springfield Republicans did better than most had predicted, particularly in the City Council races. For the first time in 12 years, a majority of the City Council will be Republicans; in addition, independent-minded Democrats prevailed in most of the other races, against their party-establishment opponents. Many people were caught off guard, by the results,...